Throughout dinner, Jediel barely spoke.
Usually, he would become a chatterbox during meals, but today he was strangely quiet. However, his expression was good, and he kept smiling.
After emptying his bowl, Jediel looked at Louisa and said:
“Grandmother, I want more beef stew. Please give me more.”
“What’s the occasion for our picky Jediel today?”
Surprised, Louisa happily refilled the child’s bowl. Not only Louisa but also Hugo and Veronia were surprised.
They had often seen Jediel leaving food, but it was the first time they saw him asking for more.
Watching Jediel moving his spoon diligently, Veronia asked:
“Did something good happen today?”
“I got a wound of glory!”
“A wound of glory?”
To Veronia’s question, Hugo relayed what he heard from the teacher.
“I heard you fell while playing ball and scraped your knee.”
“Oh my! It must have hurt… Are you okay?”
“It hurt, but I was fine. I cried a little… but it stopped soon.”
“But why is it a wound of glory? Isn’t it just a wound?”
“Well…”
At his mother’s sharp question, the child flinched and hesitated for a moment.
He liked that the wound allowed him to play ball alone with Uncle Killian. That’s why he called it a wound of glory, but he couldn’t tell his mother the whole truth.
‘They said I should never follow someone I don’t know well like Uncle Killian… But if I say we played ball alone, they’ll worry a lot.’
For this reason, the clever Jediel had a lot to say but held back. As the child fumbled for an answer to his mother’s question, Hugo spoke up instead:
“It is a wound of glory. It’s a wound from playing hard, so it’s definitely a wound of glory. Yes, that’s right!”
“Yes! That’s it!”
Jediel nodded vigorously at Hugo’s words, seizing the opportunity. But inwardly, he apologized to his mother.
‘I’m sorry, Mom. But… I enjoyed playing with Uncle Killian. I want to play again.’
[This is the timeline separator]“Your Excellency, please tell me now.”
“Tell you what?”
Late at night, while riding in a carriage leaving the imperial palace together, Windler threw a sharp glance at Killian and asked.
“Who is this child called Jediel? It’s because of him, right? Your order to plan a project that can use the affiliated kindergarten as a model.”
“…That’s right.”
Killian exhaled a shallow sigh and answered briefly.
He had anticipated that it would be revealed someday, but he hadn’t thought that moment would come so quickly.
So it was a bit embarrassing, but it couldn’t be helped. Windler was the one who assisted him most closely.
Having observed him closely for a long time, secrets and lies didn’t work on Windler.
Windler pressed his lips tightly and strained his eyes, signaling that further explanation was needed.
“I happened to run into Jediel at the market recently. But the moment I saw the child, I felt my breath catch.”
“Your breath caught… Do you mean he resembles you, Your Excellency?”
Killian’s eyes widened for a moment at Windler’s question. He had never thought that he and Jediel looked alike.
He was surprised when he heard the same thing from the kindergarten principal earlier in the day, and he was still surprised now.
Killian soon shook his head and replied.
“No. I was surprised because Jediel looked exactly like elder brother Aaron in his childhood. Not only the hair and eye color, but the overall atmosphere seemed to resemble him.”
“Ah… I see.”
Windler nodded. He had never seen Aaron Drea, who had passed away long ago. So he didn’t know if Killian’s words were true or not.
‘If that little Jediel resembles His Excellency, he must surely resemble Lord Aaron as well.’
However, he couldn’t understand at all why Killian would care about an unfamiliar commoner child just because he resembled his brother.
Starting a nationalization project for nurseries just because that child caught his eye? It didn’t make any sense at all.
‘Even if His Excellency misses Lord Aaron very much… to show so much interest in a child who just happens to look like him!’
It was impossible to understand rationally, so he had to resort to emotion, but Windler lacked that kind of sensitivity.
All of his siblings were still living well to this day, so he knew nothing of the feeling of missing or longing for a sibling.
Windler spoke in a deliberately serious voice.
“I understand Your Excellency’s feelings, but I think we need to be careful. The Crown Prince’s surveillance has been getting out of hand lately.”
“…”
Killian’s eyes, which had been soft until they were talking about Jediel, suddenly turned fierce at the mention of the Crown Prince.
“In particular, I’ve received reports that he’s been nitpicking about the budget being used for the recently started nursery nationalization project and the construction of the detached palace.”
“Is that so?”
We shouldn’t create things to be nitpicked about. A deep wrinkle formed between Killian’s eyebrows as they drew closer together.
Killian wasn’t one to pay much attention to political maneuvering.
But he knew enough to be fully prepared to counter if the other side attacked first.
He also knew that things would be easier next time if he retaliated enough to make them regret attacking first.
“What about the Empress’s movements?”
“About that. Since His Majesty the Emperor left for recuperation, the meetings between the Empress and the Crown Prince have been quite frequent, I hear.”
“Hmm…”
Killian slowly stroked his chin, deep in thought.
[This is the timeline separator]Despite the late hour, the lights were still bright in Killian’s office within the duke’s residence.
A masked man from the information guild stood before Killian to deliver this month’s report.
“This is Paola, who reportedly came to the Bodnia region two years ago.”
The man took out a fist-sized image stone from his bag and placed it on the desk.
Killian stared intently at the woman’s image reflected in the stone. She was a young and beautiful woman with lush blonde hair, but not the face he was looking for.
Killian soon shook his head.
“Next.”
“Yes.”
The man immediately took out the next image stone.
“This is Arette, who reportedly came to the Jumen region two and a half years ago.”
It was the same this time as well. Her appearance, voice, atmosphere, posture, and even behavior were all far from Veronia.
“Next.”
“Yes.”
Thus, five or six image stones were placed on the desk in turn, and this time too, they were all failures.
Veronia was nowhere to be found. A depressed feeling escaped as a sigh.
“Then I’ll visit you again next month.”
“Good work.”
After the masked man disappeared, Killian, left alone, was thinking of having a glass of whiskey. But the whiskey bottle was empty.
“Oh my…”
Due to the late hour, Killian headed to the kitchen himself instead of calling a servant. He didn’t even know if there was alcohol in the kitchen or where it might be, but he moved his feet anyway.
However, strangely, the kitchen was bright at this late hour. Entering, there was someone wandering here and there in the spacious kitchen, seemingly looking for something.
“Mother?”
“Oh? Ah… It’s you, Killian. Did you come because you needed something too?”
“Why didn’t you send a maid instead of coming yourself? You can’t even find things well.”
“Isn’t that the same for you?”
“…”
Mother and son looked at each other and chuckled. After searching all the shelves together, they decided to settle for just a glass of milk.
“Milk is better than alcohol, you know.”
“It would have been better if it was warm.”
“Can’t be helped.”
The kitchen was a very unfamiliar space for nobles. Coming down here directly was an adventure in itself.
“Do you still have trouble sleeping?”
“Yes. It’s a bit like that.”
“What about the medicine?”
“Did you know? Well, someone must have told you… The medicine… I’m trying to reduce it, but it’s not easy.”
His mother had become noticeably depressed after losing her father to a chronic illness four years ago. Recently, he had received a report from the head maid that she was suffering from insomnia.
“It’s better to keep taking the medicine steadily until the symptoms improve.”
“Yes. I’ll do that.”
The Duchess nodded and took a sip of the cold milk. After a brief pause, she let out a shallow sigh and opened her mouth.
“You should start thinking about marriage now, too.”
“Mother, that’s…”
“You’re not planning to grow old and die alone or live without an heir, are you? Right?”
“…”
“It’s been over five years since Her Highness the Imperial Princess passed away. Isn’t it time for you to move on from her? You should get married, have children, and start a family. How much longer does this old mother have to wait?”
“I still have a lot to do.”
“That precious Chancellor position! Hmph!”
As if such an excuse wouldn’t work at all, the Duchess snorted.
It was an unsatisfactory position from the start.
Her son was already the highest nobility from birth. There was no need at all for him to rise to the position of Chancellor and live a busy life burdened with difficult and dangerous tasks.
Yet her naive son accepted the position, saying he couldn’t ignore the call of the country and its people.
The Duchess thought it was a foolish act.
“No matter how much you dedicate yourself to state affairs and the welfare of the people, you should know how to take care of yourself to some extent!”
“…”
“What if you end up losing everything, including your liver and gallbladder? Shouldn’t you have at least one or two people by your side when you have nothing left? I mean a family.”
Despite the Duchess’s lament, Killian remained silent with his mouth tightly shut. After a moment, Killian’s heavy lips opened.
“I’m sorry, Mother. I have no thoughts of marriage at all yet. Good night.”
He left these words and quietly left the kitchen.
Watching her son’s retreating back, the Duchess sighed deeply.
‘He seemed more affectionate and cute when he was younger. Now there’s none of that left! Sigh, they say raising children is pointless after all!’
Her heart sank with sorrowful thoughts, but then quickly flared up with anger again. She gulped down the remaining milk in the glass.
Male lead is a Divorced Husband
She said to him: “Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change it!”
Liu Changning transmigrated into a female cannon fodder character in a female-dominant novel.
After reading the first half of the novel’s plot, the first thing she did upon transmigration was to divorce the Pan Jinlian-style male protagonist she had just married.
She indulged herself, pretending to be ugly and poor.
But as time passed, the way that man looked at her became more and more unusual…
Liu Changning was dumbfounded: Tell me, what makes you like me? I’ll change!
――
This lifetime, Pei Yuanshao was rejected by the same woman twice!
The first time, she drove him away. Forced by the situation, he endured the waves of anger in his heart, yielding and humbling himself.
That person lay slanted on a rocking chair, her sallow face emotionless: “If you don’t want a divorce, go cook!”
Pei Yuanshao’s face was dark and gloomy: “You!”
The second time, after the crisis in Jinling City was resolved, the new emperor sent someone to pick him up. He turned around, stammering: “I… I have to go. If you keep me…”
That person lay on the kang bed, her back to him, as if she had long anticipated this day, crisp and clear: “Goodbye!”
Pei Yuanshao was so angry his fingers trembled: “You… you!”
The mission of family and country made him restrain himself, averting his eyes and turning to leave this broken household.
Two years later, they met again. Seeing her ethereal face, his body shook like a sieve.
“She was originally a ‘she’!”
At the Qionglin Banquet, the top scholar of the imperial examination, a talented person with exceptional speech and conduct, all the unmarried young gentlemen from aristocratic families looked at her with shy and timid eyes.
The peerless imperial official Pei Yuanshao felt the anger in his heart erupt. He pointed at the woman surrounded by the crowd at the Qionglin Banquet, his thin lips slightly curled: “Little sister, I wants that person to be the wife-master of my Mingde Prince Manor.”
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